This thread wouldn't be complete without a map view of Melanesia excerpted from Miguel Covarrubias' "Art Forms of the Pacific Area"...

In various TC threads, bigbrotiki and others have alluded to the great mystery surrounding the now missing original work of art, done as one of six murals for the 1939 San Francisco Golden Gate International Exposition (World's Fair) on Treasure Island.

There's a January 16, 2008 online SF Weekly Newsarticle that summarizes what is known.

See inside the front and back covers of the Book of Tiki for the complete map.

Tom,
Thank you for that S.F. Weekly article link, I had missed that! Fascinating findings....I cringed when I read this:

"But a bigger indignity occurred in 2001, after the work of renovating the Ferry Building had already begun, with the murals — uncovered and unprotected — still on the walls.
"To me, that was simply unconscionable," says Williams, recalling the swirling dirt and dust the day she visited. She and Rivera Marín voiced their displeasure in front of TV news cameras. The story didn't play well, especially in Mexico, where news of the artwork's treatment was perceived as a cultural affront. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors took up the matter in a special hearing. Although insisting that the murals were unharmed, red-faced officials of the Port of San Francisco, which operates the Ferry Building, scurried to have them taken down and placed in storage."

I had seen them there in situ in the mid-90s, and marveled at the office workers scurrying by without paying tribute.

Here is another example of that LIFE article about the South Seas Art Exhibition finding its way into Polynesian pop, from the Aku Tiki Room menu: